Fundraising Idea: Come Dine With Me

When it comes to fundraising, one of the most popular ways of getting people interested is by offering them food. People love home-cooked food products and there are numerous inventive easy ideas to help you raise the funds you need.

Whether you’re the person creating the foods, or simply the one arranging the buying of foods, fundraising and food go hand in hand.

Invitation

Because a dinner party is usually a more intimate gathering, you could conceivably invite everyone by telephone. For informal gatherings, email or post could be used.

Be sure to include all the necessary information on the invitation, such as date, time, location, and RSVP.

The Guest List

Of course, your guest list will be limited to how many people you can seat for dinner.

You should invite guests to your dinner party who will get along and have common interests. You’ll spend much of the evening sitting around a table together. You will want to select your guests carefully so that they will enjoy each other’s company.

Centrepiece

Because the focus of the evening will be on dinner, you’ll want to have a great centrepiece.  A seasonal flower arrangement or arrangement of candles is always nice, but depending on the theme, you could do lots of different things.

Menu

Even though this is a dinner party, keep in mind that part of being a good host or hostess is to spend time with your guests – not slaving over a stove!

If you are preparing the food yourself, select items that you can make ahead of time and serve straight from the oven.

If you are using a catering service, but will be serving the food yourself, you’ll still want to keep these items in mind.  Spending time in the kitchen heating and reheating is no fun.

Instead, choose something that can be kept warm until it is time to eat (or better yet something that requires no preparation.)

Italian food, a Mexican Dinner and BBQ are great examples of foods that are easy to serve and everyone loves.

A memorable evening

Your food is ready, your table is dazzling and your guests are arriving. What do you do with them?

Have a few appetisers that compliment your meal available for your guests and offer a beverage as well.

When everyone arrives and has had a drink, serve the meal that you’ve arranged.

If you’ll be using the table again later for dessert, clear the dishes, but just put them aside. Don’t worry about washing them or putting them away until later.

This is your party – spend it with your guests!

But if not using the table again that evening, just walk away and let the dishes wait.

Once finished eating you could always adjourn to a room with comfortable seating for conversation and coffee.

If conversation lags, have a plan – either some topics of conversation to bring up, or a fun game.  And you can always include a theme as part of your dinner party, such as a Hollywood Theme or Murder Mystery Dinner.

Don’t forget your favourite background music to set the mood. Have fun!!

Bon Appétit!

Posted in Fundraising Ideas.